or Spencer Pratt’s supporters, the last four days of the Los Angeles mayoral primary vote-counting and conclusion were like a gut punch delivered in slow motion.
On election night, their candidate held a lead of roughly 40,000 votes over Democratic Socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, a margin that seemed to validate Pratt’s social media insurgency – and set up a November runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. By Sunday evening, six days later, that lead had evaporated entirely. Raman had pulled ahead by more than 3,100 votes, crushing Pratt’s long-shot dream of flipping Los Angeles City Hall red.
“A net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday,” Pratt wrote on X, his frustration at California’s vote tallying methods barely concealed.
For many conservatives watching the returns, the numbers stung after a triumphant few days when it appeared as if heavily Democratic Angeleno voters were responding to Pratt’s confrontational challenge to Bass’ troubled tenure, epitomized for Pratt and his supporters by her passive response to the devastating and deadly Palisades and Altadena fires.
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